In the back of the feed store, where pallets of fifty-pound sacks rise to the ceiling, I watched two women obsess over brands of layer ration. From what I could hear, they were concerned about protein content and they were comparing the nutritional labels. It makes sense. If you want healthy chickens and many eggs, […] Read more

A beekeeper in Nebraska said she found a hundred or so pollen pellets on her screened bottom board. She said she watched for a long time, but the busy bees completely ignored the fallen pellets. She wanted to know why the bees didn’t pick them up. “If honey bees are so careful to conserve nectar […] Read more

Never before have I been interested in collecting pollen, but suddenly I’m obsessed with it. Beekeepers often say that the worse part of pollen collection is having to empty the traps every day, and I suppose that duty could get old after a time. But right now, I can hardly wait to see what my […] Read more

For several reasons, I have never collected pollen from my hives. I never considered pollen to be human food, it seemed like a lot of work to process, and I never wanted to steal it from my bees. But this past winter I’ve learned some things that caused me to re-evaluate the whole pollen-trapping idea. […] Read more

The standard answer to this question is no: “There is no such thing as too much pollen.” “The bees know what they are doing.” “Don’t worry about a good thing.” “Lots of pollen means lots of brood.” I’ve heard all these arguments many times, so I found it especially interesting when this subject came up […] Read more

We’ve all called those customer service hotlines where a recorded voice says, “Your call is important to us. Please hold for the next available representative.” Slight pause and then, “Your call is important to us. Please hold . . . .” You finally hang up, which is what they were counting on. Well, this question—and […] Read more

I just love the colors in this photo by Lorelei Caracausa. Her husband says Lorelei is interested in beekeeping techniques from the 1800s through the early 1900s, and has much of the equipment to demonstrate early beekeeping at living history events in her home state of Texas. Sounds interesting; maybe we could get her to […] Read more

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The Beekeeper’s Handbook

The Valkyrie Long Hive

Bee Wise

Bee-yond Bees

Bees are more than a hobby;
they are a life study,
in many respects a mirror
of our own society.

—William Longgood

Why Honey Bee is Two Words

Regardless of dictionaries, we have in entomology a rule for insect common names that can be followed. It says: If the insect is what the name implies, write the two words separately; otherwise run them together. Thus we have such names as house fly, blow fly, and robber fly contrasted with dragonfly, caddicefly, and butterfly, because the latter are not flies, just as an aphislion is not a lion and a silverfish is not a fish. The honey bee is an insect and is preeminently a bee; “honeybee” is equivalent to “Johnsmith.”

—From Anatomy of the Honey Bee by Robert E. Snodgrass

State Insects

The non-native European Honey Bee is the state insect of:

Arkansas

Georgia

Kansas

Louisiana

Maine

Mississippi

Missouri

Nebraska

New Jersey

North Carolina

Oklahoma

South Dakota

Tennessee

Utah

Vermont

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Not one native bee is a state insect. The closest relative of a North American native bee to make the list is the Tarantula Hawk Wasp, the state insect of New Mexico.

iNaturalist

Where Are Your Hives?

Beekeepers are everywhere. Each time someone visits Honey Bee Suite, his or her location will appear on the map.

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Mission Statement

Honey Bee Suite is dedicated to honey bees, beekeeping, wild bees, other pollinators, and pollination ecology. It is designed to be informative and fun, but also to remind readers that pollinators throughout the world are endangered. Although they may seem small and insignificant, pollinators are vital to anyone who eats.